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Capitol Intrigue: Feb. 11

Ride Sharing the love: The state’s two major business lobbying organizations, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, joined with Floridians for Better Transportation to form a coalition working for statewide regulation

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Capitol Intrigue: Feb. 11

Ride Sharing the love: The state’s two major business lobbying organizations, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, joined with Floridians for Better Transportation to form a coalition working for statewide regulation of ride-sharing services. Working under the title Floridians for Ridesharing (www.ridesharingfl.com), the groups support HB 509, which pre-empts regulation and insurance requirements from city and county governments. The statewide regulatory framework is headed for the House floor. “Florida should be opening, not closing, the doors to the future with innovative ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft – and that means eliminating the patchwork of confusing local laws and burdensome regulations,” said bill champion Rep. Matt Gaetz in a prepared statement.

Forever ‘Glades: Gov. Rick Scott called on the Army Corps of Enginneers to relieve the flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and releases of water from Lake Okeechobee in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, who represents St. Lucie County, praised Scott for his action. She has a bill (HB 989) that would designate $200 million a year for the next 10 years or 25 percent of Amendment 1 conservation money — whichever is lesser — for comprehensive Everglades restoration. The bill has cleared committees and is headed for the House floor.

Fast-tracking DNA tests: The Senate criminal justice appropriations subcommittee approved a plan to speed up processing of DNA evidence by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The bill by Sen. Lizabeth Benaquisto, R-Fort Myers, sets a time frame for evidence in sexual-assault cases to be submitted to the statewide laboratory system. It also requires FDLE make a report to the governor and Legislature on how it plans to resolve a large backlog of unprocessed forensic samples in rape cases. The bill now goes to the full Appropriations Committee.

District shuffle: State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, switched his sights in running for the state Senate. Baxley, best known as the sponsor of Florida’s 2005 “Stand Your Ground” gun law, had been running for the Senate in Central Florida’s District 5. But with Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, deciding not to run for re-election, Baxley switched to that district. Hays early this week announced he will run for Lake County supervisor of elections. Baxley has served 12 years in the House, in two different stints.

Remember Dozier: A $1.5 million bill to honor and preserve the memory of one of the darkest chapters in Florida history was approved by a Senate budget committee. Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, won unanimous committee approval to have the Department of State preserve records, archives and artifacts of the old Dozier School for Boys near Marianna, where an unknown number of boys died and were buried with no public accounting in the first half of the last century. The bill continues the department’s research into the unmarked graves and authorizes reimbursement for family members to hold funerals and re-inter any bodies of children who can be identified at the Jackson County site. The plan includes a memorial to the long-forgotten victims.

Wage war: Dozens of child-care workers, teachers and parents plan to lobby legislators today for a $15-per-hour minimum wage in early education. The group, joined by Reps. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, and Victor Torres, D-Orlando, plans to testify at a public hearing on Florida’s plan for use of federal child-care funding. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour — for everybody, not just child-care workers — is a big issue among Democrats but has no visible support among the Republican leadership of the Legislature.

Quote of the Day

“It’s a black box operation done behind closed door … ultimately two people make decisions on 20 million people’s $80 billion budget money. It’s a top-down process that doesn’t allow for input at this point from the vast majority of members of both parties.”

Ride Sharing the love: The state’s two major business lobbying organizations, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, joined with Floridians for Better Transportation to form a coalition working for statewide regulation of ride-sharing services. Working under the title Floridians for Ridesharing (www.ridesharingfl.com), the groups support HB 509, which pre-empts regulation and insurance requirements from city and county governments. The statewide regulatory framework is headed for the House floor. “Florida should be opening, not closing, the doors to the future with innovative ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft – and that means eliminating the patchwork of confusing local laws and burdensome regulations,” said bill champion Rep. Matt Gaetz in a prepared statement.

Forever ‘Glades: Gov. Rick Scott called on the Army Corps of Enginneers to relieve the flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and releases of water from Lake Okeechobee in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, who represents St. Lucie County, praised Scott for his action. She has a bill (HB 989) that would designate $200 million a year for the next 10 years or 25 percent of Amendment 1 conservation money — whichever is lesser — for comprehensive Everglades restoration. The bill has cleared committees and is headed for the House floor.

Fast-tracking DNA tests: The Senate criminal justice appropriations subcommittee approved a plan to speed up processing of DNA evidence by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The bill by Sen. Lizabeth Benaquisto, R-Fort Myers, sets a time frame for evidence in sexual-assault cases to be submitted to the statewide laboratory system. It also requires FDLE make a report to the governor and Legislature on how it plans to resolve a large backlog of unprocessed forensic samples in rape cases. The bill now goes to the full Appropriations Committee.

District shuffle: State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, switched his sights in running for the state Senate. Baxley, best known as the sponsor of Florida’s 2005 “Stand Your Ground” gun law, had been running for the Senate in Central Florida’s District 5. But with Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, deciding not to run for re-election, Baxley switched to that district. Hays early this week announced he will run for Lake County supervisor of elections. Baxley has served 12 years in the House, in two different stints.

Remember Dozier: A $1.5 million bill to honor and preserve the memory of one of the darkest chapters in Florida history was approved by a Senate budget committee. Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, won unanimous committee approval to have the Department of State preserve records, archives and artifacts of the old Dozier School for Boys near Marianna, where an unknown number of boys died and were buried with no public accounting in the first half of the last century. The bill continues the department’s research into the unmarked graves and authorizes reimbursement for family members to hold funerals and re-inter any bodies of children who can be identified at the Jackson County site. The plan includes a memorial to the long-forgotten victims.

Wage war: Dozens of child-care workers, teachers and parents plan to lobby legislators today for a $15-per-hour minimum wage in early education. The group, joined by Reps. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee, and Victor Torres, D-Orlando, plans to testify at a public hearing on Florida’s plan for use of federal child-care funding. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour — for everybody, not just child-care workers — is a big issue among Democrats but has no visible support among the Republican leadership of the Legislature.